


Dark is the Way, Light is a Place

by Zafaria



Category: Wizard101
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 12:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14832627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zafaria/pseuds/Zafaria





	Dark is the Way, Light is a Place

     We pass quickly through the Shopping District. The grass is darker now; I think they re-sodded and changed some of the stone on the footpaths. I look down the long stretch of cobblestones leading to the plaza with its tall fountain and herds of people moving through. Elik's Edge juts out at the end, the last pieces of the land before it drops off into sky. The river from the Commons runs out the wall on the left side of the Edge, through a warbled iron grate.  
     There has always been a little half-wall in front of the Edge, keeping people off the crumbling turf. It never did much good anyways. I turn to you and point down the path.  
     We used to sit there. We used to straddle the wall and swing our legs over. We used to sit on the Edge and wiggle our feet over the open air as little pieces of the earth flaked away under our hands.  
I smile and you shrug a little. We are only walking through to the Bazaar to pick something up. It has been a long time now since we lived in the City. Even before we left the school, we settled in separate houses elsewhere; you in your daunting, tall keep and me in my squatty swamp hut.  
     I think, walking behind you on the ride side of the path. Some students hurry by on the other side, their faces wrinkled and anxious. Classes must be starting again in a few minutes. These are all the late ones, like we were when we still went here.  
The days are long gone when we'd rush through the Commons. I remember running through the grass and grabbing my floppy sun hat, bouncing off my head as I sprinted. And you would run right through the pond, even though the water soaked your shoes and socks up to your ankles. Professor Balestrom never accepted excuses for tardiness. Falmea was even less partial.  
     And now that I think of it, we haven't talked with Balestrom or Falmea or even Ambrose in so long. They haven't really had anything to teach us in so many years.  
     We go into the stone hut of the Bazaar and pick up the cards and reagents we needed. Outside, we stop for lunch by old Eduroa and the river and the bridge. Baldur has since left on a long voyage somewhere to trade, far beyond the mists of Grizzleheim.  
     We remember and reminisce. At school, we used to be so sure in our abilities and our magic. It was simple, direct. The magic gave us energy, made us feel young.  
     We are still young, and childishness is still kept in our hearts, but our minds are wizened and hardened now. They are no longer full of luminosity and exuberance. Since we started learning elsewhere and learning other forms of magic, it's felt like a little bit of my brain turned inky and dark. It's been slowly creeping between the folds and gyres and spreading. I don't think it's like an infection; my brain isn't rotting. And I don't think it'll take over every lobe in my mind. But it makes things overall seem duller. Life has lost it's sharp edge and undeniable shine. Every day we venture to stormier and stormier branches of the Spiral, places far-flung and far-forgotten. I look at your feet sprawled out before us. I don't remember when it was exactly that we both began to wear armored footguards and not the soft colorful boots of a novice. Now that I think of it, I've only worn armor for our excursion for some time now.  
     The growing pains have been tough, and I think you'd agree. We were never close with Raven, I don't think. Maybe she thought of us as her champions, but we were never much more to her than that; some sort of utility or tool that conveniently worked for her at the time. When Raven said that we walked a dangerous path and made many mistakes, that we were the sole perpetrators of all chaos, I did feel betrayed, though. In an incomprehensible, personal, faith-shattering way. I suppose that's just because Raven was supposed to be so generous, so great. I feel tainted, a creeping sickness rising from my stomach like I have to vomit. If it really is because of the shadows and because I let them in without hesitation or caution, then I guess she's right. Sometimes I wonder if I only feel that way because Raven makes me feel that way, because she works so hard to demonize and belittle me.  
     We get up, our joints a bit stale and eyes a little heavy as they always are now. Our feet are heavy on the stones from the footguards and endless travelling. We only had our one errand today. The scholars gave us the whole day to twiddle our thumbs as Zander tried to concoct an antidote; we'll have to set out again tomorrow to Empyrea and wither the storms. How tame the bright signposts and tents of the City seem compared to the meter-long sail-leafs and the boundless rains of the jungles. Your bright red robes would be vibrant and unyielding in the City. In the Aeriel, you look like one of the large pink flowers of the fern, another bright, blotchy spot in the thick undergrowth. Everything there is cluttered and forgivable, only visible through the slots of the palm fronds and the gaps between the forking tree branches.  
     We continue to pace through the Shopping District, back again towards the City center where we will depart and go back, but not to our cushy homes and dusty beds. We have been on our toes for a few weeks now. I think about finally making it back to my cottage and sinking down into the bathtub with my toes curled around the rim. We walk again past the gap in the buildings and stop a moment to talk. I look past you, almost longingly at the long stretch of the stones behind you, going towards the fountain and the glowing windows of the shops.  
     And maybe once again we can hop the wall by Elik's Edge and sit with our feet hanging over the world.  
     Maybe for a minute we'll feel light again.


End file.
